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>> president obama will start his three-day bus tour around iowa tomorrow. join us for live coverage at 12:25 eastern on c-span. >> at the idea that we are in this together. regardless of who we are or where we come from, each of us counts. by working together, to create opportunity and a good life for all, all of us are enriched as citizens and as human beings.

>> my opponent will not rule out raising taxes, but i will. they will push and i will say no. read my lips, no new taxes. >> c-span has aired every minute of every party convention since 1984. watch the national conventions live on c-span starting august 27. >> mitt romney and his newly announced running mate paul ryan continued their campaign tour today in wisconsin. they attended a homecoming rally. this is about 40 minutes.

>> just like everybody in this crowd, everybody here tonight, i can promise you we are not here tonight because we are worried about the future of the republican party. we are here tonight together because we are concerned about the future of america. i happen to believe that we are in the battle for freedom. this same battle back founded

this country, at the same battles that james madison reaffirmed in the bill of rights and here we are today. a country that surrenders its sovereignty to its bondholders cannot guarantee prosperity or freedom to anybody. a country that buries its kids and grandkids in an avalanche of debt cannot rest in any vestiges of moral high ground. a country controlled by china cannot compete with china. america has a choice to make. are we going to continue down the path of misery and broken promises? are we going to continue down the path with a president who is in love with the sound of his own voice? the selection is a defining moment, the new generation.

it is this generation time for choosing. we all ought to say thank you to governor mitt romney a man of character, and man of honesty courage, thank you, governor romney, for choosing paul ryan as your running mate. i happen to believe that this president has a problem with the american dream. not one single parent out here looks at the beautiful house on the corner and says, look at these lousy people over here. all of our parents looked at me and said, if you work hard, you played by the rules, you go to

school, mom and dad body to have that house. we wanted to succeed. we wanted to be a success. we have an opportunity to work together to save this country. he plans on governing like he campaigned. that is what we want in this country and what we have been so blessed with in wisconsin. authentic people like scott walker with stand-up and leaved this state liberty and freedom for the entire country. ladies and gentlemen, the greatest governor in the united states of america scott walker.

[applause] >> thank you for coming out. it is such a thrill for me and my family. we are here to support the next first family and the next vice- president family. let's give them a warm welcome. [applause]

mitt and paul will be out in a moment. on june 5, we stood on this ground and claimed a victory for the taxpayers of the great state of wisconsin. on november 6, we will claim a victory for hard-working taxpayers all across america. mitt romney -->> mitt romney showed us yesterday that he is not only experience but he has the courage to lead this country. he made a bold decision. it is not as big for wisconsin. it is a great deal for

wisconsin. paul ryan will be a great vice president. think about it. mitt romney had the experience we need to turn america around. this is a guy who in the private sector, in the media it tried to make excuses about this, this is a leader who stood up and turn companies around. there are thousands of people working today because of his leadership in private sector. that is where we may jobs, not in government. then a decade ago this is the last night of the olympics. i've been watching the olympics. it has been spectacular. remember a decade ago in 2002 we nearly had a global

embarrassment to the united states backs mitt romney came in and saved the day and almost single-handedly turn the olympics around. we have a leader who can turn things around in the private sector. he can turn things around for america. as governor, people forget this. remember the big dig? it was a disaster. and he got to work like a great leader does. he can do it in the private sector. he can turn america around. he has the courage and the olympics to be the next president of the united states. are you ready?

are you ready to hear from the next president of the united states? welcome governor mitt romney and paul ryan. ♪

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[cheers and applause]

[applause]

>> thank you, everybody. thank you, wisconsin. it is good to be home. i tell you. i love wisconsin. i see my family over here. i have a lot of family. i tell you what.

my family came here back in the 1800's. it is where we have raised our family ever since. it is such a phenomenal place to live, to work, to raise your family. i am thinking about a deer camp over a in fairchild. our children. we live on the block eiger up on.

my veins runs cheese bratwurst and a little spotted cow and some miller. i was raised by the bucs and brewers. i like to fish here. i like to snowmobile here. i even think i should fishing region as a fishing is interesting. at to tell you what this means to be home. i want to say thanks to my friend scott walker. [applause]

what we learned in this state a little while ago, is that we want to elect men and women who run for office and tell us who they really are, who they believe, what they're going to do. when they get elected, and they do that. that is what we do here in wisconsin. we are ready. we implemented our leaders.

we said keep doing it. courage one. we say it was confident that day. in november, we will help save america that day. i see so many familiar faces.

>> we are all family. >> we are. and that was not my brother that said that. [laughter] we have to make a decision. the president came into office with so much hope, offering so much change. he got the power he wanted. he got the party in control. he passed almost every item on his agenda. it is law now. now we're seeing the results. a country with a health care system that is about to be taken over. a country with four years of the trillion dollar deficit. the worst economic situation in

years. nearly one in six americans are in poverty today. do you know what that we're not going to take that. we're going to turn this thing around. the good news is this. we can do this. we can turn this around. we can get this economy turned around. we can get the economy back to work. i look at my kid. sam, i am over here. [laughter] i look at my kids. it has been a long day for him. i let my kids and i want them to have the future i had.

that is what my dad told me. and this country every generation makes things better and leaves their kids better off. it is our duty to save the american dream for our children. we have a big choice to make. if we look at the path we're on and all the things the president has been doing, more governments, more regulations the promise of a lot more taxes, we see a president who took what we pioneered here getting people back to work and dignity and on to a lack of hitting their potential.

if this president is going to do these kinds of things in very difficult election year, imagine what he would do the never had to face the voters ever again. we're not going to find out. here is our choice. we can either stick with the politics of the past, with distracting and starting. we can put ourselves on the path toward a welfare state where we now see the government's role as not promoting economic avidity by giving us a new government rights, putting the government in charge.

driving our economy. picking winners and losers. equalizing the outcomes. this country is so special. this state is so special. it is the only country founded on an idea. it is very special. that idea is the declaration of independence. our right come from nature and god not from government. [cheers and applause] here is our choice. do we want that opportunity at the safety net where people can make the most of their lives and get ahead or do we want to go down a pack of debt and despair? do we want to copy europe? no. is to take leadership. it take courage.

it will take another objection that we had none could 2010 to get this right. when we do, we will look back at this moment as the day our generation fixed it so the american idea was turned back and our children have a brighter future. as you now know, i spent some time with this man lately. we need a man of integrity. we need a leader of principle. we need somebody who has a bedrock principles, a moral compass, a vision for the country, and the expertise to put that vision into place. those are the things that describe this man mitt romney. when you see how this man how warmly is to his family, it to

his associates, when you see the successes he has achieved, raising a beautiful family, creating small businesses, creating jobs, this is a person who knows that if you have a small business you did build that. this is a man who win the olympics was struggling the country called him to revive it.

this is a man who as governor walked across the aisle, and got things done, balance the budget without raising taxes increases the credit rating, and increase household income by providing leadership. this is a special moment for all of us. we are all family. this is it. this is the election. we owe you the choice so you can decide what kind of country we will be. we won the election where we turn your support. where we win because you said go fix the mess in washington. we are going to fix this mess in

washington. this is an exceptional nation. this is the greatest idea appeared there is no other system that has done more to help the poor, a spread opportunity, to help people rise up than the american system of freedom and free enterprise. we have a leader here who understands that. who knows how to deliver that. that is our contract with you. ladies and gentlemen, we're going to do this. we're going to turn this around. this man is a mitt romney. he will be the next president of the united states of america.

>> thank you. what a welcome. . . >> i wanted someone who was a leader. leadership comes from character. this is a man who has real character, who loves america who has passion for america, who

understands what it takes to get america on the right track and this leader is going to help get america strong. [cheers and applause] most people who go to washington are filled with washington and someone decided to go to washington and not beat up on people but instead someone who would go there to make a real difference and this is a man who realizes that people who have differences of opinion and he reached across the aisle. he did so with dignity and respect and he is liked and

recognized, as acknowledged, admired and intellectual leader and he is respected. as vice president of the united states, this man will be respected by people across the nation and across the world. [cheers and applause] >> this is a critical time. you know this is a critical time for the country. you are here tonight to celebrate the selection of an extraordinary guy to be our nominee for vice president and you know this is a great time of seriousness for the nation. we have 23 million people out of work. 23 million people -- u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a. slam u.s.a.! u.s.a.! u.s.a.!

u.s.a.! >> you see young man, this group here is respectful of other people's rights to be heard. and you want to find our self a different place to be disruptive because we believe in listening to people with dignity and respect. [cheers and applause] >> if you follow the campaign of barack obama, he is going to do everything in his power to make this the lowest meanest negative campaign in history and we aren't going to let that happen. this is a campaign of ideas and future of america. this is a campaign of america's future for your children and the world. mr. president, take your campaign out of the gutter and talk about the real issues that

america faces. [cheers and applause] >> people in america are hurting right now. the middle class is struggling right now. incomes have dropped by $4,000 per family health care premiums have gone up by $2,000 500, utility and gasoline prices are up. they don't know if america is going to come back. it is, if it gets new leadership. [cheers and applause] >> i'm going to do five things. paul ryan and i are going to get our economy roaring back. number one, take advantage of our energy resources, wind and solar as well as nuclear, oil, gas, coal. [cheers and applause] >> number two we are going to make sure our kids and workers have the skills they need to succeed and we are going to put

work back into welfare. [cheers and applause] >> number three, we are going to have trade that works for america and that means we are going to open up new markets for goods, but when china cheats, there will be consequences. [cheers and applause] >> number four, we are going to do something that paul has been fighting to do for years now. when we have republicans in the house and senate and we have the white house we are going to cut federal spending and cut the spending and get america back to a federal balanced budget. [cheers and applause] >> and number five we are going to champion small businesses and help small businesses grow and thrive. i couldn't believe it the other day. when i saw that quote that paul

just mentioned of the president in virginia i couldn't believe he actually said that. you hired what he said if you have a business, you didn't build that, someone else did that. >> whoa! >> and he said, it's not fair you took me out of context. go on youtube and read the context and the context is worse than the quote. he says if you have been successful you may think it's because you are smart and there are a lot of smart people and there are a lot of people that were working hard. you see in this country we welcome and celebrate people who reach who dream who aspire, who achieve. that's the nature of how america works. [cheers and applause] >> when the guy or gal comes home from the factory and says,

you know what? i took that class at the community college and got more skills and we celebrate that and acknowledge what they accomplished. when the kid comes home and says i made the honor roll we celebrate that child's achievement and say way to go. you made that happen. i know for them to make the honor roll, they had to ride on a bus to get to school. if he gets on the honor roll he or she gets the credit and not the bus driver. [cheers and applause] >> this country is going to come roaring back. we will do those five things with real leadership and america will create more jobs, more take-home pay and you will be convinced that the future is brighter for your children. and i know that because i have seen the spirit of america across this lapped. one thing that gives me the

greatest confidence is that there lies within the heart of the american people, republican, democrat, independent, men and women cities and suburbs there is a patriotism that america is an exceptional nation and a great nation. [cheers and applause] >> and a nmp n leaned over to me as paul was speaking. we were moved at the welcome you gave him. we were touched. and tears filled my eyes. and i know paul and janet felt the same way. you guys are amazing. i'm not sure about the kids but the rest of us felt pretty emotional. and i thought back to a time when i under stood one more time just how deep the passion is for this country and this was at the end of another olympics.

we are just ending the london olympics. the games have been spectacular to watch. hopefully you have seen the athletes their courage and determination. at the end of our games in 2002, i invited a young man to come in and sit with vice president cheney to represent all of the athletes of america and i chose derek para. born in los angeles, hispanic american and he was a roller blader in los angeles and his friend said to him if you want to get in the olympics, you have to pick up another sport. so he tried on ice skates and wept to the local skating club and he was fast. the roller blading translates pretty well. he trains and trains and ends upbeating a lot of big fellows from michigan where i came from wisconsin and minnesota and becomes a member of the united states speed skating team.

bonnie blair boy, isn't she the best. he is long track and comes to salt lake city and he gets the silver medal. 1500, fastest man on earth on skates. i invited him to sit with the vice president. i said, derek, what was the most meaningful experience in your olympic games? and he said carrying in the flag that was flown over the world trade center on september 11 in the opening ceremonies. he was one of the eight athletes that was selected to carry that flag. it's about eight by 12 feet and torn and burned and can't be put up a flag pole. so he carried it in. we brought him into the stadium

some 55,000 people, we expected that when it was announced they would burst into tears, but instead total silence and he said we carried the flag and stopped in front of the choir and he said it was hard to hold on to my emotion as they were sing ng and i was holding that flag and the choir did something i hadn't expected. i knew what was coming and i picked the version of the national anthem and 1930's version by robert shaw where you repeat the last line. the singers go up an extra octave. the land of the free and the home of the brave. and he said this time as they sang it, a gust of wind blew in the flag and lifted in their hands and he said for me it was

as if the spirits who had fought and died for american liberty had just blown into that flag and he said tears began to run down my face. tears filled my eyes. we love this country. we know it's an exceptional land. we understand that when the founders wrote those words that said the creator endo youed us with those rights that they were right. among those rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. we share them with people around the world. this is the greatest the world has ever seen because of that extraordinary beginning, that idea as paul said. we aren't going to change america into something we don't recognize. we are going to restore to america the principles that made america the hope of the earth. we are going to do everything in our power to keep america strong

in our homes, in our economy, in our military second to none. this nation has a mission to perform. we are going to make it happen and make america the shining city on the hill. you are going to help us win the white house in november. we are counting on wisconsin. let's get it done! thank you! captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you can see more of mitt

romney's choice, republican budget committee paul ryan by visiting the c-span video library. mr. ryan has nearly 400 appearances in the video library and include speeches from the house floor and his appearance at the 2004 republican national convention. watch clip and share c-span videos your way with the c-span video library at cspan .org/videolibrary. >> mitt romney and his running mate will campaign in different parts of the country tomorrow. mr. romney will can campaign in iowa and the former governor will be -- >> in january of 2010, president obama was invited by house

republicans to join them at their annual retreat in baltimore. during his remarks, the president and then budget committee ranking member paul ryan discussed the federal budget and national debt and the rising cost of medicare. here's a look. >> thank you mr. president. paul ryan from wisconsin. >> thank you. mr. president, first of all, thanks for agreeing to accept our invitation here. it is a real pleasure and honor to have you with us today. >> is this your crew in here? >> this is my wife and children. [laughter] >> i serve as the ranking member of the budget committee. the spending bill that you have signed into law, the domestic discretionary spending has been increased by 84%. you want to freeze spending at this elevated level beginning next year. this means that total spending

in your budget would grow at 300 of 1% than otherwise. we could do more and start now. you have said you want to go through the budget line by line and give you that scappell. i have a proposal with senator feingold to have a constitutional version of the line-item veto. problem is we can't get a vote on the proposal. why not freeze spending now and would you support a line-item veto and help us get a vote on it in the house? >> let me answer the questions about us increasing spending by 84%. now, look i talked to peter

orszag because i suspected i would be hearing this argument. most of the icreases in this year's budget, this past year's budget were not as a consequence of policies we nirbletted were built in as a consequence of the automatic stabilizers that kick in because of this enormous recession. so the increase in the budget for this past year was actually predicted before i was even sworn into office and had initiated any policies. and whoever was in there would have seen those same increases because of on the one hand huge drops in revenue, but at the same time, people were hurting and needed help and a lot of these things happened automatically. now, the reason that i'm not proposing the discretionary

freeze take into effect this year, we prepared a budget for 2010. it's now going forward, is again, i'm just listening to the consensus among people who know the economy best. and what they will say is that if you either increase taxes or significantly lowered spending when the economy remains somewhat fragile, that that would have a desometimelative effect and potentially you would see folks losing business, more folks potentially losing jobs and that would be a mistake when the economy has not fully taken off. that's why i proposed to do it for the next fiscal year. that's point number two. with respect to the line item

veto. i think there's not a president out there who wouldn't love to have it. and i think this is an area where we can have a serious consideration and a bipartisan proposal by you and russ feingold. i don't like you -- being held up by big bills. it's a defense authorization bill and the troops need the funding that they need. i would love for congress itself to show discipline on both sides of the aisle. one thing that you have to acknowledge, paul because you studied this stuff and take the pretty seriously. the earmarks aren't unique to one part and you get pushback from any one of you in your

districts because wasteful spending is usually spent somehow outside of your district. have you noticed thatment. the spending in your district seems pretty sensible. i would love to see more restraint within congress and would like to work on earmarks reform but i'm willing to have a serious conversation on the line-item veto issue. >> we had a version that we think is constitutional. >> let me take a look at that. >> discretionary peng, the bill that congress has siped, you signed into law, that has increased 84%. >> we'll have a longer debate on the budget numbers there. thanks paul. now, going forward here's the deal. i think paul for example, head

of the budget committee has looked at the budget and made a serious proposal. i have read it. i can tell you what's in it. and there are some ideas in there that i would agree with but some ideas that we should have a healthy debate. the major driver of our long-term is medicare and medicaid social security we could fix the same way that o'neill and ronald reagan that is manageable. medicare and medicaid massive problem down the road. that's going to be what our children have to worry about. now paul's approach and i want to be careful not simplifying this because i know you've got a lot of detail in your plan, but if i understand it correctly,

would say, we are going to provide vouchers of some sort for current medicare recipients at the current level -- no? well, i understand, there is a grandfathering in but for future beneficiaries. i want to make sure that i'm not being unfair to your proposal, but i have read it. but the basic idea would be at some point, we hold medicare costs per recipient constant as a way of making sure that that doesn't go way out of whack. and i'm sure there are some details -- >> health inflation the point of our plan is, medicare is $38 trillion unfunded liability. it is going bankrupt and the premise is look, give the people

the same kind of health care plan we have in progress. that's what we propose for medicare. [applause] >> as i said before, this is an entirely legitimate proposal. the problem is twofold. one is depending on how it's structured, if recipients are suddenly getting a plan that has the reimbursement rates going like this, but health care costs are still going up like that, then over time, the way we're saving money is essentially by capping what they're getting relative to their costs. now i just want to point out and this brings me to the second problem, when we made a very modest proposal as part of our package our health care reform package to eliminate the subsidies going to insurance companies for medicare advantage

, we were atacked across the board by many on your i'll for slashing medicare. remember? we are going to start cutting benefits for seniors. that was the story that was perpetrated out there and scared a lot of seniors.

we aren't going to be able to do anything about any of these entitlements if we do characterize whatever proposal that is put out there. . >> the other party is doing x y, z. if we are going to frame these debates in ways that allow us to solve them can't start off by figuring out a, who's to blame b, how can we make the american people afraid of the other side.

and unfortunately that's how our politics works right now. that's how a lot of our discussion works. that's how we start off. every time somebody speaks in congress, first thing they do is stand -- i see frank sitting up here and he has polled it and he said i have done a focus group and the way we are going to box in obama or make pelosi look bad -- i like frank -- we have had conversations between frank and i, but that's how we operate. it's all tactics. it's not solving problems of the so the question is at what point can we have a serious conversation about medicare and its long-term liability or a serious conversation about social security or a serious conversation about budget and debt in which we aren't simply

trying to position ourselves politically. that's what i'm committed to doing. we won't agree all the time in getting it done, but i'm committed to doing it. i have gone over time. but i will be happy to take your question, congressman, offline. you can give me a call. god bless the united states of america. thank you everybody. [cheers and applause] >> you can see more of mitt romney's choice for his vice presidential running mate paul

ryan by visiting the v span video library. he has 400 appearances in the video library, his speeches on the house floor and republican convention. watch, clip and share c-span videos your way with the c-span video library. president obama will start his three-day bus tour around iowa campaigning across the state. join us for a campaign stop in councils bluffs. >> does the idea that we are in this together regardless of who we are or where we come from or how much money we have, each of us counts and that by working together to create opportunity and a good life for all all of

us are enriched not just in economic terms but as citizens and as human beings. [cheers and applause] >> my opponent won't rule out raising taxes but i will and the congress will push me to raise taxes and i will say no and they'll push and i'll say no and they'll push again and i'll say to them read my lips, no new taxes. >> c-span has aired every minute of every major party convention since 1984. watch the conventions live on c-span starting monday on august 27. >> republican presidential candidate mitt romney announced congressman paul ryan as his vice presidential running mate. mr. ryan heard testimony from

timothy geithner and debated the 2013 budget request. this portion is about an hour and a half. 10

>> hearing will come to order. welcome everyone to this important hearing and i would like to thank secretary geithner for joining us. this is your second hearing today and fourth this week. so you are halfway there.

>> this is no plan to grow the economy and no plan to save us from a debt-fueled crisis which will be an economic disaster.

why is the president giving us more broken promises instead of leadership,. the where agreement is possible and we would like to think there is some of that why have we seen the president turn his back on the bipartisan solutions that are out there. why has he is dividing americans. after house republicans put forward a serious solution in our budget last year the president had an opportunity to advance plans for meeting our challenges, to advance alternatives tom then compromise. and if there is a growing bipartisan consensus for the reforms that are needed, there is a consensus on issues like entitlement spending and tax reform. and they have a bipartisan history. the history dates back to bill

thomas under clinton commission that continues with the work done at the bipartisan policy center and includes the work that i have done with senator w ympdmp en from oregon. fundamental tax reform also has a bipartisan history. and in 1986 i was in high school at the time but i read the book, we did fundamental tax reform that lowered tax rates and broadened the base. dick gephardt and bill bradley. i would argue this isn't a left versus right issue. this is about those who are willing to tell the people the truth about our nation's fiscal challenges and those who continue to duck from those challenges. this budget takes the latter approach. it represents a very clear threat to the health and retirement security for seniors

and threatens our prosperity and it commits our children and grand children to a diminished future. i don't know how you can conclude otherwise. secretary geithner you would be the first to acknowledge that having no plan is a plan in and of itself and a plan to stay in the debt crisis and having no plan means we are planning for decline as a nation. the point of the hearing is to find out why that kind of future is acceptable in this budget and this administration. i hope your testimony can provide answers. i yield to ranking member mr. van hollen. >> i thank you very much. i think as the secretary will testify, in fact this budget represents a plan, it represents a responsible plan, a good plan and the debate we really have in this committee is not between

plan and no plan but between two very different visions of how we move forward in this country and what this budget does is three essential things. number one, it helps to nurture and move forward our very fragile recovery. i think we all know that when president obama was sworn in, the economy was in total freefall. we know in the last quarter of 2008, we were in freefall at negative 8.9% of g.d.p. the economy was in crisis and that's the crisis that the president inherited. in january, we were losing over 800,000 jobs every month. now the first thing as the president and previous congress did was to put a net over that freefall and then begin to

reverse it. we passed the recovery act and rescued the ought oove industry successfully and other measures. and the reality is the last 23 months, we have seen over 3.5 million jobs private sector jobs. that's good news. is it enough? certainly not. and the president's budget lays out a strategy to nurture that recovery and continuing to help businesses hire more people and grow the economy. one piece of that is something i hope will get done in the house which is to extend the payroll tax cut and extend it for another 10 months. very important provisions to the economy and the american people. that's not enough. the plan the budget similar to the one he brought to the congress last september.

american jobs act. also contained a number of other important provisions. if you look the unemployment figures while we have seen a growth you will see teachers losing their jobs firefighters emergency responders. that's why the president's plan says we need to provide assistance to the states and calls for $50 billion investment in infrastructure. absolutely necessary. we have over 13% unemployment in the construction industry. we have roads that need to be built. we need schools -- we have schools that need to be renovated. this is a win-win. it is curious for people to hear building an aircraft carrier creates jobs but building jobs doesn't. we need a strong defense. building a road is as well.

and so why we would decide to not invest in our infrastructure which has been essential to our past economic growth is a mystery to me. and the president has put forward a good plan there. what else does this budget do. critical investments in the future. look at the g.i. bill. it helped send millions of americans to college to get a better education and has paid off not just for them but for the country. look at investments that the country has made in science and research. darpa lead to the internet. we want to invest in this country so we can maintain a competitive edge. and finally this budget takes a balanced approach imbalancing the budget. it reduces the deficit as a

percent of the economy to under 3% and gets it down to 2.8% under the 10-year woipped. and that's where our republican colleagues have objected to. you have a plan that says we will make some tough cuts in discretionary spending, those down to the lowest level since the eisenhower administration. cut over $350 billion in health mandatory and cut others as well. but they also do something else. they propose tax reform not just to simplify the code, which is absolutely essential but do it in a way that other bipartisan commissions have done to help us reduce our deficit. and the reality is that our republican friends have taken this position. they talk about tax reform. not one penny in closing

loopholes can go to deficit reduction. not one penny. that would be a violation. and so the dilemma we have is not between no plan and plan it's between a responsible balanced plan and the plan that we have seen before from p this committee which i would say is totally lopsided because you aren't asking the folks who have done really well, folks at the very high income scale, you aren't asking them to pay the same rates as they were during the clinton administration when the economy is booming you have to find it somewhere else. and what that budget is take $700 billion out of medicaid. a third of medicaid cuts.

it ends the medicare guarantee and slashes important investments in infrastructure, science, education and research. those are the choices we have. and mr. secretary, i know you will elaborate on the plan you have. i think it's a good plan, a responsible plan and a balanced plan. >> i guess we are going to agree to disagree. secretary geithner the m inch c is yours. >> thanks for giving me a chance to talk about these important questions. i'm going to talk about four things just briefly about the economy and the challenges we face there. and then a bit on the near term on growth and jobs, i'll lay out th broad elements of our strategy and the contrast between where we disagree. first on the economy. the economy today is gradually

getting stronger, but we have a lot of tough work ahead of us. over the past years, despite the financial headwinds from the crisis and people in the housing construction bubble, despite the severe cutbacks by state and local governments, the crisis in europe, despite the rising oil prices, despite the confidence caused by the specter of default this summer, despite all of that, the economy is growing at an annual rate of 2.5% since growth resumed in the summer of 2009. private employers added 2.7 million jobs. private investment is up by more than 30%. productivity has improved. exports across the american economy from agriculture is expanding rapidly. americans are saving more and

bringing down their debt levels and the financial sector is helping to meet the demands for credit and capital. these improvements are signs of the resilience of our economy, the resourcefulness of our workers and signs of the importance of the swift actions we took with the fed to stabilize the economy. we still face very significant economic challenges particularly for the average working family in this country. americans are living with the acute damage caused by the crisis. millions of americans are living in poverty. they are struggling to save for retirement and pay for college. for these reasons, the president budget calls for economic growth and job creation alongside to

improve economic opportunity and long-term prospects. i want to applaud the congressional leadership for the progress they have received. they have reached an agreement to extend the payroll tax cut and this is my second point. don't stop there. there are more things that we can do with bipartisan support. things that have had bipartisan support. it would be good to make the economy stronger in the short-term. we disagree now on the long-term shape, doesn't have to get in the way of doing more things now that would help the economy in the short-term. three examples more help to get scrubbing -- construction workers back on the job would be good policy, helping americans to take advantage of lower mortgage rates would be good policy and better incentives for investing in the united states would be good policy.

all of those things have had bipartisan support in the past and the disagreements we have on the entitlement programs would get in the way. so don't stop with the payroll tax extension. how to reform our tax system and live within our meeps. we have to govern with limited resources and how to use the resources more wisely particularly given the americans

who will become eligible for medicare and social security and it's important because as you well know at the end of this year we face the expiration of the bush tax cuts and the possibility of the sequester and that will force us to come to agreement on another substantial downpayment. the debate we have to have now and how to build consensus and move forward in this case even though we are so far apart. now in the president's budget, we propose to save $4 trillion over 10 years $3 trillion on top of the caps. now if congress were to enact these reforms, they would lower the deficit from just under 9% of the g.d.p. in 2011 to just under 3% of g.d.p. in 2018 and

stabilize the overall debt burden in the second half of the decade and put is back on the path of fiscal sustainability and better position to confront the challenges we still face and as more americans retire. discretionary spending is projected to fall to its lowest level as the share of the economy. and under the president's proposal would also slow the rate of growth of spending in medicare and medicaid, both through the affordable care act reforms and additional proposals for additional medicare and medicaid savings. as we reduce spending we have to protect investments that are important to expanding future economic growth and the budget makes a series of targeted proposals in education manufacturing, and infrastructure. these aren't expensive proposals. there are things we can afford and propose to pay for them in

the framework that reduces our deficits. in order to achieve this balance, this balance between significant substantial deficit reduction over time, there is still some room for investments that matter for proposing to raise a modest amount of revenue through tax reform. the president's plan proposes roughly 2.5 dollars. these revenue increases will fall only on the top 2% of americans and not on the rest of the 8% of americans and raise revenue of 1% of g.d.p. and slightly less than the simpson-bowls commission and this is a more fair and better way to achieve fiscal sustainability. better for the economy and better than the impact of an

equivalent amount of cuts in things like benefits to middle-income seniors. we propose tax reforms that raise revenues not because we think it's good politics we propose it because we do not believe it is possible to meet our national security needs to preserve a basic level of health care and retirement security to compete effectively in the global economy without some increase in revenues as part of a balanced plan. now, we illustrate in the budget the range of specific tax changes that could be added onto the present tax system to raise the necessary amount of revenue. the best approach to get there is through comprehensive tax reform. we have outlined a general set of principles designed to make the system more fair, more simple better encouragement of investment in the united states.

we will lay out how to achieve that objective. better for investment in the united states. and we think that's a good place to start and we hope there is the prospect of bipartisan consensus on tax reform like that. final point. i know there are members of congress who are critical of these proposals and would prefer a different strategy. judge our plan against those alternatives. let me say where we agree and where we disagree. where we agree our fiscal deficits are unsustainable and have to be brought down during time and the commitments we made are unsustainable and unaffordable. we disagree in some fundamental respects. some of you have suggested that we cut deeper and faster with more severe austerity now.

in our judgment, that would damage economic growth and reverse the gains we achieved in getting americans back to work and put more americans into poverty. a program of severe immediate austerity now is not a growth strategy. we can't cut our way to economic growth and you have to be attentive to an economy still healing from a crisis that doesn't hurt growth but helps growth in the short run. >> it would entail deep cuts in benefits for retirees and cuts to investments in education and innovation. would hurt growth and cuts in

defense spending would damage our national security interests. so the choice we face is not about whether we should lose our deficits because we all know we have to do that it's about how fast we do it how quickly we do it and how to do it with a balanced plan. and with a plan that will place more of the burden on cuts in national security medicare low-income programs, education innovation and infrastructure in ways we think that wub unfair and damaging to our country. these are tough reforms, but a balanced mix of spending cuts and tax increases. it gives us room to make investments and improve opportunities for americans and help protect our basic commitment to health care for the elderly and the poor. provides substantial, immediate additional help for the average

american along side reforms to maintain sustainability. even if you embrace these proposals, we will be left with substantial additional challenges but would put us in a much better position to meet those challenges. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. we agree on a few of those points. here's the crux of what i want to get to, do you think this budget averts the deterioration of our fiscal problem? >> we aren't claiming it solves all the problems but does meet the critical essential test of restoring our deficits to a more sustainable position for the next 10 years and the test there which is the test you embrace in your plan, too is to make sure you get the deficits down and hold them there and if you do

that and our overall debt burden stops growing at a level we can manage and starts to come down. we meet that test and we help lower the trajectory of growth from millions retiring but we would still face with this framework more work to do in that long-term demographic challenge. >> bring up charge 13. out of your book, page 58 you say that -- this is your budget, says that the government's budget greatly deteriorates. these are your numbers. this is your debt package. >> if you look at 2012 for the next 10 years, it stabilizes that debt burden as a share of the economy.

and that's exactly what i said. >> does this take off? >> and as millions of americans retire, those costs on medicare and medicaid start to increase and he we are saying openly and directly to you we are going to have some work to do. what you do is i think in your budget although, i know you would lower that path in ways that would substantially increase the burden of health care costs on middle-income seniors. and although we agree with you a we have more work to do we aren't going to adopt an approach -- >> show slide a. you brought it up and i know you want to see this chart. the red is status quo. >> you could have taken it out to 3,000 or 4000. >> last year's budget.

>> we cut it off. the economy according to c.b.o. shuts down on 2027 on this path. >> if you look -- you are talking about like more than half a september try. if you look at the gap between us. >> i understand the gap. >> it's a pretty small gap and that gap, that 10 to 20 gap is a gap where you are achieving that slightly diminished path. >> this is your time. it's going to take a long time. here's the point. leaders are supposed to fix problems. we have a 99.4 trillion unfunded liability. our government is making promises to americans that it has no way of accounting for them. so you're saying we are stabilizing but not fixing it. we are going to keep lying to people. what we're saying is, in order

to avert a debt crisis. you are the treasury secretary, if we can't make good on our bonds, who is going to invest. we don't want a debt crisis. it comes down to competence and get it under control and if you go back to the preceding chart, number 13 you're showing that you have no plan to get this debt under control. you are saying, we'll stable idse it but it will shoot back up. and so, my argument is, that is europe. that is bringing us towards a european debt crisis because we are showing future seniors people who are organizing their lives, we don't have a plan to make good on this. >> maybe we aren't disagreeing in the sense that i made it absolutely clear is what it does

is it get it down on a sustainable path. why do they do that? >> 10,000 people retiring every day. >> millions of americans retiring every day and that will drive up the medicare costs. we aren't coming before you to say that this is a long-term problem. what we do know is, we don't like yours because what yours would do is put an undue burden on a mid-income senior. you are right, though that governing is you have to make choices between the mediate -- >> in the interest of time, we have -- he are fine that you don't like our path. that is what this is all about. we are going to pull the rug